19 – The Rat-Headed Human Monster
Entering the steel factory, there wasn’t a single employee zombie inside—it seemed this place had always been an empty shell.
This location wasn’t too far from the villa district, and this arsenal was likely originally intended for the Base.
The steel factory was vast, with many buildings still largely intact, quite different from how Ye Jin remembered it in her previous life. She followed closely behind Gu Jingzheng, but didn’t spot Zhang Zhang anywhere.
After passing through two sections, they stopped before a workshop door.
Gu Jingzheng turned to Ye Jin and said, “The person you’re looking for should still be ahead. Beneath here is an arsenal prepared in advance by the military. Xu Tian’s target is this batch of weapons.”
Ye Jin hadn’t expected him to tell her so directly, and she looked at him with surprise in her eyes.
Gu Jingzheng took a handgun from his Dimension and placed it in Ye Jin’s hand. “As a member of the Ye family, you should have some understanding. The country did have preparations, but no one expected the apocalypse to come so quickly. Many things haven’t been resolved in time. Although I don’t know how Xu Tian learned about this place, this batch of weapons must remain under military control!”
Currently, those politicians were all operating independently, with the entire upper echelons embroiled in chaotic power struggles. This arsenal would determine the stability of the Southern Base.
Ye Jin also understood the seriousness of the situation. In her previous life, Xu Tian had used the Base’s name to deceive most of the Ability Users into coming here. That operation resulted in heavy casualties among Ability Users, severely weakening the Base.
After obtaining these weapons, Xu Tian and Yu Leyang had colluded, bringing the entire Base under their control. This time, no matter what, Ye Jin wouldn’t let Yu Leyang gain this advantage.
“What should we do now?” Ye Jin asked. With just the two of them, they might not be able to handle whatever was inside.
“I sent a special signal while you were resting. Military personnel will arrive soon.”
So that’s why he had her rest—he was deliberately avoiding her.
“I didn’t mean to hide it from you, but the less you know about these things, the better for you.”
Many matters were too complicated. Gu Jingzheng looked down at her and added, “Ah Jin, I’ll go in first. You follow behind. If things become too much to handle, you retreat first.”
Ye Jin’s heart skipped a beat as she met Gu Jingzheng’s intense, profound gaze.
Entering the workshop, they found a small laboratory filled with various experimental equipment. The completely dark room was permeated with a chilling cold.
A bit further in, they saw several glass containers holding various corpses preserved in formaldehyde.
The corpses were grotesquely deformed. Several containers held monkeys that hadn’t completely turned into zombies, their skulls opened and brain lobes floating in the formaldehyde.
There were also several preserved zombie bodies, though their skin hadn’t completely rotted away.
“What are these?” Ye Jin felt nauseated, tilting her head to ask Gu Jingzheng ahead of her.
“These should be among the first zombies discovered. The monkeys were probably test subjects.”
Gu Jingzheng glanced at Ye Jin and said, “If you’re scared, you can hold onto my coat.”
So there were zombies even before the apocalypse officially broke out. It seemed her suspicions were correct.
Ye Jin muttered, “I’ve killed plenty of zombies—don’t underestimate me.” In her previous life, the number of zombies she’d killed would easily cover a basketball court. These things were just visually disgusting.
Gu Jingzheng found this side of Ye Jin particularly adorable and chuckled, “Yes, you’re the most capable.”The two of them had searched the entire laboratory but found no trace of Zhang Zhang or Xu Tian, nor did they see the group of monsters from their previous life.
This was highly unusual.
Gu Jingzheng suddenly tensed up. “They might have already gone inside!”
With that, he quickly strode to an iron door, pulled open the password lock, and rapidly entered the code.
He had only learned this password recently. The absence of people here meant Xu Tian’s group had already entered. How did they obtain the password?
It seemed that after dealing with this matter, he would have to temporarily set it aside and rush back to the capital. The changes after the apocalypse were too numerous.
Gu Jingzheng led Ye Jin through the iron door into a wide underground passage. As soon as they entered, Ye Jin was stunned—the space was packed with dozens of shipping containers of various sizes, even containing artillery and tanks!
She opened the nearest container to find two heavy machine guns with thousands of rounds of ammunition.
No wonder Xu Tian and Yu Leyang had been so audacious in the later stages. These weapons were enough to bombard a large town!
Ye Jin watched as Gu Jingzheng waved his hand, and half of the supplies vanished.
Such a massive quantity—and Gu Jingzheng’s space superpower was only at Tier 2. How could he store it all?
Before Ye Jin could ponder further, two monsters suddenly charged from around the corner, madly pouncing with incredible speed. Before she could react, she was scratched.
As one monster was about to bite her neck, Gu Jingzheng swiftly drew his gun and fired.
It was unclear what these creatures were—nearly two meters tall with rat heads on human bodies—but the bullets actually ricocheted off their skin.
During the brief moment the bullets struck the monster, Ye Jin seized the opportunity. Drawing her blade, she channeled her Thunder ability into it and slashed at the monster’s arm.
The blade only managed to scrape a shallow cut on the creature’s skin, and the Tier 2 Space Blade Gu Jingzheng threw at them also dealt minimal damage.
The slightly taller monster, seeing its companion injured, let out a fierce howl and hurled a wooden spike.
The monster released its pressure, forcing Ye Jin to her knees.
This monster actually possessed Wood ability and had reached Tier 5! The shorter one moved with extreme speed, likely a Tier 4 speed mutation! How could this be possible so soon after the apocalypse? It was terrifying.
In the apocalypse, not only humans leveled up, but zombies, mutated animals, and plants did too. Zombies above Tier 1 developed attributes just like humans.
Zombies enhanced themselves by consuming human flesh and blood, while humans advanced using Zombie Nuclei.
Ye Jin recalled that in her previous life, this steel factory area had been dominated by such monsters. But in this life, there were no living humans underground to sustain these two creatures. How had they advanced so high?
She dodged the wooden spike the monster shot, watching as it pierced clean through the wall behind her. Such formidable attack power.
Beside her, Gu Jingzheng’s expression was equally shocked. He had never received any intel about these monsters possessing human-like Special Abilities. What exactly had those maniacs done?
They absolutely couldn’t let these two monsters escape—that would spell true disaster for humanity!
Gu Jingzheng quickly retrieved the heavy machine gun from the container Ye Jin had opened, leaped onto a shipping container, and unleashed fierce firepower at the two monsters’ heads. The speed-type monster, enraged by the heavy assault, charged over and sent him flying with a single claw strike.Ye Jin gathered a massive Lightning Ball using her Thunder ability, having just felt her Thunder ability level up.
The second-level Lightning Ball smashed directly toward the monster’s head. If it were an ordinary Zombie, it would have long turned to ashes, but striking this monster only managed to slightly injure its fur.
The monster, wounded on the head by the lightning, dripped blood mixed with fur and became even more frenzied.
Another Wood ability monster charged straight at Ye Jin, its wooden spikes nearly severing her arm.
Gu Jingzheng released a Space Blade to attack the fast monster’s eyeball, while pulling Ye Jin behind him with his other hand.
He quickly slipped off the ring he had been wearing and handed it to Ye Jin.
He said to her, “This is a Space Ring. I’ll lure them out. You collect all the remaining weapons and blow this place up before the military arrives.”
Before Ye Jin could respond, Gu Jingzheng sliced his palm with a dagger, using the blood to attract the monsters.
Brandishing a heavy machine gun, Gu Jingzheng shot at the two monsters and rushed out through a hidden passage, leading them away.
Ye Jin looked at the ring in her palm, unsure of its material, and quickly stored the remaining weapons inside. So she wasn’t the only one with a Storage Space, but this kind of object space could likely only store items and be used by anyone—unlike her Jade pendant space.
Ye Jin found it strange. Though they had known each other for only a short time and were still testing and suspecting each other, they also trusted one another.
Ye Jin swiftly collected all the weapons and noticed a strong scent of blood.
Following the smell, she discovered a small room where the two monsters had emerged. The thick steel door was completely dented inward, and the room reeked heavily of blood, with some ice chips still on the door.
Using her knife to pry open the damaged door, it collapsed with a crash.
Sure enough, the floor was covered with the bodies of Ability Users, along with severed limbs and pools of blood. They must have been chased by the two monsters and taken refuge here.
Ye Jin searched through the bodies one by one and finally found Zhang Zhang pinned beneath. Checking his breath, she found it faint—he was alive but severely injured, covered in the monsters’ claw marks.
If an Ability User is scratched by a Zombie of a higher level, they can still be infected. Fortunately, although the monsters were bizarre, they carried no Zombie Virus. Still, with such severe injuries, he could easily die from blood loss.
Ye Jin immediately pinched his philtrum and patted his face.
“Zhang Zhang! Zhang Zhang! Wake up!”
Zhang Zhang groggily opened his eyes and, seeing Ye Jin, felt it was unreal: “Ye Jin?”
“Not dead yet.” With that, Ye Jin fed him a mouthful of Spirit Spring Water.
Zhang Zhang found the water unusually sweet and refreshing, still not fully conscious, feeling as if he were dreaming. He had thought he would become food for those disgusting monsters today.
“I’ll get you out first. We can talk later. The military will be here soon.”
As she spoke, Ye Jin quickly applied a simple bandage to his wounds.
Glancing at the others on the floor, she realized none were alive—too much time had passed, and several had died from excessive blood loss. Luckily, Zhang Zhang, with his ice ability, had frozen his wounds, reducing the bleeding significantly.
Ye Jin planted explosives in every corner of the armory, lifted the unconscious Zhang Zhang, and helped him out, placing him at the entrance of the steel factory outside.The troops that Gu Jingzheng had sent word to had already arrived outside. After watching them arrange for several soldiers to carry Zhang Zhang onto the military vehicle, and before the troops could enter the steel plant,
Ye Jin directly detonated the explosives below. The blast reverberated through everyone.
She turned and swiftly left the area.
Following the trail left on the road, Ye Jin went to find Gu Jingzheng. He was now alone facing two monsters, and she had no idea how long he could hold out.